Gas leak ends Cabrera concert

A propane gas leak prematurely shut down the Ryan Cabrera concert that took place Saturday night in McCullough Social Space. The Middlebury Fire Department responded and the problem was resolved, but the concert did not resume.

Around 250 students, about half of the Social Space’s capacity, attended the concert, which was co-sponsored by the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) and Wonnacott Commons.

Though Cabrera was able to perform the majority of his set list, he was unable to play his biggest hit, “On the Way Down,” and was transitioning into another well-known song, “True,” as the fire alarm went off.

“All of a sudden, the sound system popped and all the lights went out,” said Teresa Wolverton ’12, who attended the concert. “There was a fire alarm with flashing lights.  Everyone had to evacuate.”

“People were incredulous and became a bit rowdy,” said John Montroy ’12, another concertgoer. “Everyone was also slow to get outside, probably because they couldn’t believe the concert was getting cut off mid-song.”

At this point, according to Wonnacott Commons co-chair Annie Bogert ’12, Audrina Patridge, star of the reality television series “The Hills,” who is currently dating Cabrera and sat in the front row of Saturday’s show, began to be “mobbed” by male fans in the audience.

“We had to push them away and get [Cabrera and Patridge] into the Service Building,” Bogert said, referring to herself and her fellow co-chairs, Ray Queliz ’11 and Armaan Sarkar ’12. Bogert, Queliz and Sarkar remained in the Service Building with Cabrera and Patridge as the fire department responded to the gas leak, which took about an hour. After the issue was resolved, Cabrera asked if he should go on with the show.

“I said it wasn’t worth it,” Bogert explained. “I felt bad, but I figured that the majority of the people had left.”

By this time, it was about 11 or 11:20 p.m., and Cabrera, Patridge and Cabrera’s manager headed to the Two Brothers Tavern in downtown Middlebury for a drink.

Bogert described Cabrera as an “interesting” person.

“He said to me later on that he liked the connection he had with the crowd,” she said. “There were lots of jokes, lots of cursing … ‘rock star behavior,’ so to speak.”

“For what he was trying to be, he was good,” said Montroy. “His songs were catchy and he can clearly play. He knows how to work a crowd and present himself.”

“Ryan performed amazingly,” Wolverton agreed.

“People who did not attend truly missed out on an amazing experience.”

Bogert agreed that though the concert was cut short, attendees were generally enjoying themselves.

“Nobody has a crystal ball and can look in the future and see what’s going to happen,” she said.

“People were having a good time while they were in there. Maybe it was too short, but it wasn’t a waste.”